Magic out of God's control

[Wertbag]

I was watching a YouTube video by the prophet of Zod: https://youtu.be/TAy_JsWEEQY

(its a 30min video so I'm not suggesting that anyone watch it unless the topic is of real interest) but I found this sparked several thoughts about things I'd ignored or glossed over in the past. 

 

There seems to be a fair few examples of God not having control of the supernatural powers at play. From Eve eating of the tree which could give her powers against gods wishes, to the story of a sick woman being healed by touching Jesus's robe when he wasn't expecting it, to the poor chap being struck dead by the ark of the covenant for trying to protect it. 

 

Even the idea that demons can cause bad things to happen in the real world means that hell, gods perfect prison, cannot contain those within. They are free to work against gods will and for all of the worlds history He has been unable to control them. 

 

One example I hadn't considered was Samson's hair being cut. The reason he had power was his promise to god to never cut his hair. When his hair was cut by others it still meant Samson never failed his promise. If the power came from god then the hair was only a symbol and god could have left his gift unchanged. But apparently you can trick god out of supporting those devoted to Him. 

 

There are stories of wizards with powers not from god and the rule to kill witches which would be irrelevant if they had no real powers. Do all their powers come from demons? Demons that god created? Locked in a hell that god created? Still able to give powers to mortals so they can operate against gods will? Why allow magic to work at all, isn't keeping supernatural powers out of your enemies hands the smart thing to do? 

[TEG]

The witch of Endor was able to call Samuel back from the dead, presumably against god’s wishes.  (I didn’t watch the video, maybe it’s in there.)

[florduh]

Just another of many inconsistencies. I wonder why Christians continue to insist on their god's omnipotence when so obviously he does not have control over everything, according to their own mythologies.

[♦ Fuego ♦]

The gods of other ancient religions were often a lot like people with superpowers, not really omnipotent or omniscient. Most were regarded as local gods, even if they had creation myths. I think this shows up a lot in the Jewish writings, but believers gloss over it or make excuses. Remember the iron chariots scene?

“And the Lord was with Judah; and he drave out the inhabitants of the mountain; but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron.”

—Judges 1:19

 

[Tsathoggua9]

13 hours ago, Fuego said:

The gods of other ancient religions were often a lot like people with superpowers, not really omnipotent or omniscient. Most were regarded as local gods, even if they had creation myths. I think this shows up a lot in the Jewish writings, but believers gloss over it or make excuses. Remember the iron chariots scene?

“And the Lord was with Judah; and he drave out the inhabitants of the mountain; but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron.”

—Judges 1:19

 

 I always loved that verse!  

[♦ Fuego ♦]

There was an interesting thought from another website that recalled that iron was regarded as magical in some belief systems, perhaps due to falling from the sky in meteorite form. 

 

Apologetic sites of course say it was Judah that wasn't able to overcome the iron chariots, not God... who was with them... who told them to drive out the... nevermind.